You are here
NRA Member and Restaurateur - Immigration Reform
May 27, 2010
May 26, 2010
Dear fellow NRA Member and Restaurateur,
I am writing you directly regarding immigration reform, an issue that has great implications for our industry and for our country. While some recent media headlines highlight new developments, the Association has been working for years with lawmakers and stakeholders to facilitate action on sensible immigration reform.
With the increased attention to the issue, it is possible that a moment of opportunity to enact reform has arrived, and I wanted to update you on what the Association is trying to accomplish and encourage you to contact your Senators in support of sensible immigration reform.
I am the grandson of immigrants. My father's parents left Ireland with nothing but a 6th-grade education and hopes for a better life. My grandfather died when my father was just 18 months old of pneumonia and my grandmother scrubbed floors to feed her children. The kids all worked to help out.
My father joined the Navy Air Corps at 17, fought in the South Pacific as a turret gunner in a Privateer bomber and managed to survive the war. He came back and attended college on the GI Bill. He graduated and married my mother over 60 years ago and was going to law school at night while selling ads for the yellow pages. Almost 20 years ago he retired as the CEO of one of the regional Bell phone companies.
I am the oldest of their eight children. All of us had the opportunity to live in a country where initiative, ambition, hard work, education and a little luck has led to varying degrees of success – mine in the restaurant business. Our work, building upon the work of so many immigrants, their children and their grandchildren, is the foundation of the country we have today.
Today, things are more complicated. Our immigration system is badly broken. Although billions of dollars have been spent on increasing border security, many people seeking illegal entry get through. Our nation's method of ensuring whether the millions who enter on valid visas leave our country when they are supposed to is inadequate. Employers are exposed to a system where fraudulent documents are commonplace, and bear the burden of potential liability for hiring those who are not work eligible. The inability to resolve these and many other complex matters, has only served to increase the anger and frustration on all sides of the immigration issue.
And yet, this truth remains: America's security and our economic future depend on passing sensible immigration policies.
The NRA has long advocated sensible reforms to the nation's immigration system. We support a common-sense approach that secures our borders, creates a fast and reliable employment verification system, provides an employment-based visa that meets the future demand for workers when U.S. workers aren't available, and creates a path for qualified, screened undocumented individuals to work to gain legal status. This is longstanding Association policy that has been thoroughly reviewed and recently reaffirmed by the NRA Board Committee on Jobs and Careers.
The Association is unwavering in its belief that it is critical that Congress develop a sensible, comprehensive immigration reform solution. Bipartisan leaders on immigration, Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have been working steadily for months to draft a comprehensive bill. The Association has been a leading participant in a business community coalition that has worked closely with them. Addressing our immigration system is important for many reasons, but it is an economic necessity for our industry. Our nation's nearly one million restaurant locations and their millions of employees have much at stake in this effort, and the ramifications of failure to find a solution on this vital issue will be severe. A key part of any proposal moving forward will be how to address the 11 million undocumented workers currently in our country.
The legislation proposed thus far would crack down on illegal immigration, toughen border security and provide a path forward for law-abiding immigrants already here. Illegal immigrants would be required to apply for status, pay a fine, request and receive a tamper proof ID, and enter a process including learning English and paying taxes. After several years they would be able to apply for permanent residency, with a path toward citizenship. This process would significantly reduce the incentives for and the costs of illegal immigration, which are draining our resources.
But ending illegal immigration is not the sole objective. Reform must contribute to
strengthening our economy – now and in the future.
The restaurant and foodservice industry is the second largest private sector employer in the U.S. with 12.7 million employees, as well as one of the largest private sector employers of immigrant workers. By 2020, the restaurant industry is projected to employ 14 million people – an increase of 1.3 million jobs over the next 10 years. During that same period, the U.S. labor force is projected to increase only 8 percent, and the number of teenagers and young adults in the workforce is expected to decline by 4 percent. This signals a serious shortage of workers – and a sharp increase in labor costs.
The restaurant industry has a long history of welcoming immigrants and providing needed employment. As such, the industry also faces challenges of false or deficient documentation of potential employees. We support efforts to enforce our borders, while protecting employers who are trying to do the right thing. We also support finding a realistic pathway toward legal status for those undocumented workers who are already here and have become vital to our businesses. The process must ensure a level playing field for those who are here and those whom we look forward to welcoming.
It is uncertain whether Congress will be able to vote on reform before the November election, but this seems to be our best opportunity in recent years to achieve sensible and effective overhaul of our nation's broken immigration system. I urge you to contact your Senators to ask for their strong support of sensible immigration reform accessing our action center at the link below:
www.restaurant.org/immigration
Our industry, our country and future generations of Americans are depending on us.
Sincerely,
Michael C. Gibbons
President, Mainstreet Ventures, Inc.
Chairman, National Restaurant Association
Dear fellow NRA Member and Restaurateur,
I am writing you directly regarding immigration reform, an issue that has great implications for our industry and for our country. While some recent media headlines highlight new developments, the Association has been working for years with lawmakers and stakeholders to facilitate action on sensible immigration reform.
With the increased attention to the issue, it is possible that a moment of opportunity to enact reform has arrived, and I wanted to update you on what the Association is trying to accomplish and encourage you to contact your Senators in support of sensible immigration reform.
I am the grandson of immigrants. My father's parents left Ireland with nothing but a 6th-grade education and hopes for a better life. My grandfather died when my father was just 18 months old of pneumonia and my grandmother scrubbed floors to feed her children. The kids all worked to help out.
My father joined the Navy Air Corps at 17, fought in the South Pacific as a turret gunner in a Privateer bomber and managed to survive the war. He came back and attended college on the GI Bill. He graduated and married my mother over 60 years ago and was going to law school at night while selling ads for the yellow pages. Almost 20 years ago he retired as the CEO of one of the regional Bell phone companies.
I am the oldest of their eight children. All of us had the opportunity to live in a country where initiative, ambition, hard work, education and a little luck has led to varying degrees of success – mine in the restaurant business. Our work, building upon the work of so many immigrants, their children and their grandchildren, is the foundation of the country we have today.
Today, things are more complicated. Our immigration system is badly broken. Although billions of dollars have been spent on increasing border security, many people seeking illegal entry get through. Our nation's method of ensuring whether the millions who enter on valid visas leave our country when they are supposed to is inadequate. Employers are exposed to a system where fraudulent documents are commonplace, and bear the burden of potential liability for hiring those who are not work eligible. The inability to resolve these and many other complex matters, has only served to increase the anger and frustration on all sides of the immigration issue.
And yet, this truth remains: America's security and our economic future depend on passing sensible immigration policies.
The NRA has long advocated sensible reforms to the nation's immigration system. We support a common-sense approach that secures our borders, creates a fast and reliable employment verification system, provides an employment-based visa that meets the future demand for workers when U.S. workers aren't available, and creates a path for qualified, screened undocumented individuals to work to gain legal status. This is longstanding Association policy that has been thoroughly reviewed and recently reaffirmed by the NRA Board Committee on Jobs and Careers.
The Association is unwavering in its belief that it is critical that Congress develop a sensible, comprehensive immigration reform solution. Bipartisan leaders on immigration, Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have been working steadily for months to draft a comprehensive bill. The Association has been a leading participant in a business community coalition that has worked closely with them. Addressing our immigration system is important for many reasons, but it is an economic necessity for our industry. Our nation's nearly one million restaurant locations and their millions of employees have much at stake in this effort, and the ramifications of failure to find a solution on this vital issue will be severe. A key part of any proposal moving forward will be how to address the 11 million undocumented workers currently in our country.
The legislation proposed thus far would crack down on illegal immigration, toughen border security and provide a path forward for law-abiding immigrants already here. Illegal immigrants would be required to apply for status, pay a fine, request and receive a tamper proof ID, and enter a process including learning English and paying taxes. After several years they would be able to apply for permanent residency, with a path toward citizenship. This process would significantly reduce the incentives for and the costs of illegal immigration, which are draining our resources.
But ending illegal immigration is not the sole objective. Reform must contribute to
strengthening our economy – now and in the future.
The restaurant and foodservice industry is the second largest private sector employer in the U.S. with 12.7 million employees, as well as one of the largest private sector employers of immigrant workers. By 2020, the restaurant industry is projected to employ 14 million people – an increase of 1.3 million jobs over the next 10 years. During that same period, the U.S. labor force is projected to increase only 8 percent, and the number of teenagers and young adults in the workforce is expected to decline by 4 percent. This signals a serious shortage of workers – and a sharp increase in labor costs.
The restaurant industry has a long history of welcoming immigrants and providing needed employment. As such, the industry also faces challenges of false or deficient documentation of potential employees. We support efforts to enforce our borders, while protecting employers who are trying to do the right thing. We also support finding a realistic pathway toward legal status for those undocumented workers who are already here and have become vital to our businesses. The process must ensure a level playing field for those who are here and those whom we look forward to welcoming.
It is uncertain whether Congress will be able to vote on reform before the November election, but this seems to be our best opportunity in recent years to achieve sensible and effective overhaul of our nation's broken immigration system. I urge you to contact your Senators to ask for their strong support of sensible immigration reform accessing our action center at the link below:
www.restaurant.org/immigration
Our industry, our country and future generations of Americans are depending on us.
Sincerely,
Michael C. Gibbons
President, Mainstreet Ventures, Inc.
Chairman, National Restaurant Association
